The Consequences of our Choices
by Leda Omega
Summary: Ace Omega is a troubled Jedi to put it simply. He is friendless and picked on before he meets two other Jedi: Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano. When the three become good friends, the Jedi Order had better watch out because when you combine an impulsive boy, a quick-thinking Mirialan, and a loose cannon, you get out-of-control parties, drunken Jedi Masters, and Code-Breakers. A/U
1. Prologue: People Are Weird

Consequences of Our Choices

Prologue: People Are Weird

**Author's Note: This is my first work of fiction that I've produced and I do hope to continue this Fanfic through hard work and the occasional review from viewers. Basically, this will be about an aspiring Padawan that goes through through the Clone Wars and befriends Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano. This'll be AU, as well. Anyway, his name is Ace Omega and he's the son of Granta Omega and the grandson of Dark Jedi Xanatos. And though his father had no Force-sensitivity whatsoever, he rivals Anakin Skywalker as a candidate for the Chosen One. If only his midi-chlorian count would show itself during his classes... Oh, Ace is eleven in this first chapter. And for more information on Xanatos or Granta Omega, go to Wookieepedia and search them.**

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"Initiate Omega, please pay attention." At the sound of my instructor's voice, I picked my head up from my desk in class and groggily looked around.

"What?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. This caused my classmates to giggle and make a few rude comments, but I was used to it. After all, being the grandson of the infamous Xanatos _does _prepare you for the humiliation and constant teasing that you go through in the Jedi Order.

My instructor, Ms. Yerner, sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was an old female Human with a pale pigment. Her skin, which might have been smooth at one point, was wrinkled and showing signs of dry, dead skin. Her robes were a cream color and reached her ankles, as most senior Jedi females wore their clothes.

But by "senior", I mean old. Not as in a "veteran."

"Since you're so interested in your studies, why don't you answer question forty-five in our pre-evaluation data-books?" she asked, smiling up at me. It contained no warmth.

I looked down at the datapad and read the question. _What is the capital of Corellia? _

We had been studying planets in the Inner Core for some time and we had just finished Corellia's basic information. Sadly, I'd been in Master Yoda's office, being reprimanded for not paying attention in class. _I'm so screwed... _

Ms. Yerner turned around for a moment, but that was all it took for another youngling to nudge my foot with hers. The desks in our class were arranged so that they were all crammed together and no one could see feet movement from the front, so Ms. Yerner had no idea what was going on.

Anyway, I looked over at the Initiate and examined her. She was my age, eleven, and was a yellow-green skinned Mirialan. She wore dark robes and a hood over her head. She mouthed "D" at me, though I didn't catch on.

_What? _I mouthed at her.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both of us turned our heads forward and found Ms. Yerner glaring at us. The Mirialan replied, "Oh no, Ms. Yerner. Initiate Omega just dropped a data-pen, that's all. I was giving it back to him."

I could hardly hear her though, because I was still struggling with the answer to question. _And what in Yoda's name does "D" mean? Wait... _

"Um... D," I answered, feeling a little stupid. "Coronet City."

Ms. Yerner narrowed her eyes at the Mirialan and I, but she couldn't prove that the other initiate had helped me. "That correct, Omega." She looked up at the chrono and added, "Class dismissed."

The shuffling of feet and some dialogue about "stupid Inner Core" filled the room and, soon, the hallway as we exited. I walked alone, as I usually did, and tired to hurry off to my dorm without attracting attention. "We really dodged a bullet there, huh?"

I looked down to my right and found the Mirialan walking at my side. She caught my gaze and flashed a coy smile up at me. "Something the matter, Ace?"

"You cheated." Cheating was intolerable in the halls of the Temple and Initiates were severely punished for the crime. The fact that another youngling had given me the answer was enough to land us both in Master Windu's quarters. And Master Windu can be terrifying at times.

The girl tilted her head at me. "I'm afraid that _you _cheated, Ace."

"You helped me."

Another annoyingly cute smile. "No, I didn't. I just happened to be saying the letter 'D' as a silent answer for myself and you went and took credit for my work." She mockingly scoffed at me and added, "Speaking of which, that's against the rules. I should report you to the Council right now!"

I stopped frowning and might have even smiled, but I was still angry with her. _Frustrated, not angry, Ace. A Jedi doesn't feel anger. He is at peace with his surroundings. _"We could've been caught."

"She had no proof."

"An Initiate could have told her."

She laughed softly and replied, "Who would have been the snitch, Ace? Really! I mean, Initiates like to draw attention, but not _that _kind of attention." She smiled her coy smile at me. "And it's not like _you're _going to do anything about it. I saved your butt back there!"

I thought about this for a moment. She _had _saved me from another trip to Master Yoda or Master Windu. I smiled a little and scratched the back of my head. "I guess that you did save me, huh? Thanks anyway." I paused, then added in a question, "What's your name?"

Her annoying grin turned into a curious, yet polite smile. "Barriss Offee." She held out her hand as we walked and I shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Barriss." But I had already heard of her. She took all advanced classes and there were rumors that Master Yoda would allow her to go to a master earlier than expected. She had long since moved on from the forms of Shii-Cho and Makashi and was now studying Soresu, form three, under Jedi Master Coleman Trebor. Master Trebor was a member of the Jedi High Council and one of the most well-known swordsman in the Order.

But back to the point; Barriss was a born Jedi. She never fell asleep during lectures and in sparring matches with other initiates, and even Padawans, she never lost focus and beat her opponent almost every time; the only exception was Ferus Olin, but he was at least four years older than us.

"Barriss!" a voice called out. We both turned around and saw a Rutian Twi'Lek racing down the halls. He arrived, panting, and smiled at both of us, though confusion was apparent in his expression. "We still going to the mess hall?" His voice sounded Rylothian.

"Of course we are, Tutso!" she replied, giving him a strange look. She turned back to me and said, "Ace, this is Tutso Mara. His master is Jedi Knight Kento Marek. Tutso, this is Ace Omega."

Tutso gave me a friendly smile, though it was obvious that he was still wondering why Barriss was talking to me.

"Ace, would you like to join us for lunch?" Barriss asked politely, looking up at me.

I scratched the back of my head. When people asked me to go to lunch with them, it was usually to set me up for some stupid prank or whatever. But Barriss seemed to genuinely like me. Still not convinced of her motives, I answered, "I'm going to have to pass." With a nervous laugh, "I might actually get some studying done."

"Oh. Okay," was Barriss' reply, though a rejected expression spread across her features. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

I waved goodbye to them, but a guilt began gnawing at my heart as I walked back to my quarters. _I should have taken that offer, _I thought.

Suddenly, an orange blur slammed into me and I stumbled back against the wall. Looking down to the projectile, I saw that it was a small Togruta girl with orange skin and small lekku. She had crystal eyes and I saw that one of her canine teeth was missing. She couldn't have been more than seven years old.

Rubbing her small montrals, she said, "Sorry about that, Initiate Omega. I was playing tag with my friends."

"Well, doesn't _everyone_ know who I am," I replied sarcastically. I pulled the girl to her feet.

She gave me a lopsided grin and said, "Of course we do! Your grandfather was Xanatos!"

I winced at the mention of my ancestor's name. When I was about four years old, I had been sent to Temple for instruction as a Jedi. While the Healers were examining me, they had found that my DNA matched up with Xanatos. They had informed the Council of this and all of them managed to keep it a secret for five years. Then, some Padawan "stumbled across" my health records and told the entire Order about it.

And people laughed at me and made fun of me because of it. It wasn't my fault that I had a Dark Jedi as a grandfather, though. It wasn't like I had _chosen _my ancestors.

"Anyway, you owe me lunch." This statement from the small Togruta brought me out of my stupor.

I scowled down at her. "Why do I owe you lunch?"

She gave me that grin again and said, "You knocked me over. Tradition state that you repay a bad deed with a good one, or the demons will come and haunt you in your sleep."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "You do know that the instructors just tell you that to scare you into not doing anything bad, right?"

"I know that," she said, laughing. "But I'm starving and my friends probably forgot all about me, so lead the way." With a confused smile, she added, "And has anyone ever told you that you're really tall for your age?"

While my father had been human, my mom had been an Epicanthix. Epicanthix were basically humans, except that they were really tall and muscular. Their life span was usually around one hundred-thirty years old and they had epicanthic folds around their eyes. They also had brown or green eyes and tan skin.

"Yes, actually. I'm half-Epicanthix," I answered. While my folds were distinct, I was almost six foot tall at only eleven years old. My skinned was tanned and muscular as a warrior's and my eyes were an emerald green, with brown around the pupils.

"I don't really see-" she started, then her eyes widened and she grinned again. "Oh, I see the epicantic folds now! But you really have to squint."

I crossed my arms and rubbed my forehead. "Listen, if I'm going to get you lunch, can you at least tell me your name?"

"Ahsoka," she said, crossing her arms as well. "Ahsoka Tano." She started walking off and called out, "Come on, Tall Guy. They're serving bantha meat today and if you didn't know, Togrutas are carnivores."

The corners of my mouth lifted upwards and I followed her to the Mess Hall. We entered and she immediately said, "Those meanies!"

I noticed the direction in which her statement was said and I asked, "Are those your friends?"

A group of younglings about a year younger than me were mustered around a table near the tray deposit area. It consisted of a Wookie, Two Twi'leks, another Togruta, and three Humans. They all seemed to be having a good time- without Ahsoka.

"I thought they were," she replied. Her shoulders were slumped and her eyes had lost that joyful twinkle. "They're in my clan and we had just finished lessons for the day. I was talking to them when they said that we should all go play hide-and-seek tag. I guess that they just wanted me to go away."

Feeling a spark of pity for the younger Initiate, I said, "Forget them. Let's get you some food, 'soka."

She smiled softly at me and I returned it. Walking up to the lunch line, I waved the cafeteria worker over and said, "Two bantha meat sandwiches, please. And two juices."

The worker nodded and placed our food on the tray. "Here you go. That'll be ten credits."

Digging the money out of my pocket, I handed it to her and walked toward an empty table with Ahsoka on my heels. I placed the tray on the table and pulled out a chair for her politely. She sat down and immediately dug into her sandwich, while I just sipped my juice. "So, what clan are you in?"

She looked up and wrinkled her eye markings. Swallowing her food, she replied, "The Clawmouse Clan. What about you?"

"The Bergruufta Clan."

"I hear that they put you there because of loyalty," she said, watching me take a bite of my food. "Would you say that you're loyal? True of heart?"

I scrunched my eyebrows together. It was true that you were placed in a clan because of your foreseen characteristics and personalities. The Bear Clan was a place for the brave and those in the Katarn Clan were there because of their stealth. There were many other clans, but I had little time to dwell on them since Ahsoka's question plagued my mind.

_Am I really loyal? Or will I be like my grandfather and try to destroy the Temple, then commit suicide? _

"I thought you said that you were going to get some studying done," a feminine voice said from my right. I looked over and saw Barriss staring at me. She didn't look annoyed, but she wasn't entirely pleased either.

"I was," was my reply and she raised her eyebrows, probably wondering why I had bailed on the activity.

Ahsoka shot her a grin. "You see, Tall Guy here practically trucked me over with all his muscle and stuff. So, he had to buy me lunch or else the demons would come for him."

Barriss smiled at her, amused, and then turned back to me. "Fine. I'll let you off the hook for this one, Omega. But since you're here, my friend, Claire, just became a Padawan and we want to have a little celebration for him in the bowels of the Temple." She said "bowels" in a deep, yet funny voice.

"The bowels?" I replied, using the same voice she had.

She smirked and repeated, "The bowels. It's what we call the old chambers of the Temple. They're mostly abandoned and a lot of them were closed off for safety purposes."

"Why disobey the rules then, if they're closed off and dangerous?" Ahsoka asked, listening to our conversation.

"The Council just says that to keep us out of there and to make sure that we're not doing anything inappropriate, whatever _that's _supposed to mean!" she said, not knowing what the masters meant by that. At the time, Ahsoka and I didn't either. "Anyway, we're going to go down there in a few days, but we need help with decorations and stuff. Since you're tall and all that, I was wondering if you would help us."

She gave me a look where she stuck out her lips and made her eyes go big with pleading. I raised my eyebrows. "If you stop giving me that face, I'll do whatever you tell me to do."

"Great." She smiled and added, "You're welcome to come to the party, as well. Both of you. Claires's gonna be so surprised when he sees the place after we fix it up!"

I smiled at her and Ahsoka took a bite of her sandwich. Barriss said, "I'll meet you after class tomorrow, Ace. See you around..."

She trailed off, waiting for Ahsoka to give her a name. "Ahsoka Tano."

"Well, Ahsoka." Barriss nodded to the Togruta, then smiled down at me. "Ace."

I lifted the corners of my mouth as she walked away. Then, I frowned, a question popping up in my head. _Does this mean that Barriss is my friend? What about Ahsoka? When did I even get friends? _

I shook my head and a group of giggling girls interrupted my train of thought. I lifted my eyes to a table of female Padawans about fifteen or sixteen years old that were staring at me with a weird look in their eyes. They kept giggling and I looked behind me to see what was so funny. There was nothing to the rear of me. _What are they laughing at? _

Looking back at them, I tried to wave at them. They immediately waved back and started talking among themselves. "When did I get so popular?" I asked aloud.

Ahsoka shrugged and said, "Don't ask me. I just met you."

"But those girls keep laughing at me," I replied, gesturing to them.

She looked over at them and frowned. "Huh. Well, I guess that people are just weird sometimes, right?"

Ahsoka couldn't have been any more correct. In just a matter of hours, I had managed to avoid being caught by Ms. Yerner, make two new friends, make others laugh and be invited to a party for a new Padawan. _Yeah, people are really weird._

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**So, how was that for a first chapter? Just tell me in a review. And if you seriously don't know who Xanatos or Granta Omega is then search it on Wookieepedia, which is the Wikipedia for Star Wars if you didn't know. **


	2. Chapter 1: A Helper

_Consequences of Our Choices_

_Part One: A Beautiful Friendship or Two_

_Chapter One: A Helper_

**Author's Note: Chapter One is finally kicking off for this story. Thanks to all who have viewed and all who will view. Now, enjoy!**

* * *

"You ready to explore the bowels?" Barriss asked, leaning against the wall. Her smile was a little too sneaky and the twinkle in hers said that she didn't play by the rules. Her hood was pulled a little lower than normal.

I shrugged and said, "Sure. Just lead the way."

She smiled and raised her eyebrows. "You sure? There's quite a bit of rubble to jump over down there." I gave her a look and she raised her hands defensively. "Okay, okay. We're going. Sheesh, you need to lighten up, Acey."

"Acey?"

She didn't reply, just led me to a turbolift and we both stepped in. She hit the first floor button and we started to descend. Suddenly, soft yet annoying music started to play. I looked around and asked, "Music?"

"Some of the old turbo-lifts have it," she said, staring straight ahead with her hands clasped behind her back. "It's very bothersome and it gets stuck in your head."

Sure enough, when I got off the lift, I was humming along to the high-pitched tune. Barriss laughed at me and said, "Come on. Tutso said that we need to get there by two o'clock."

We walked toward an old flight of stairs and hurriedly walked down them. "So, what needs to be done in these bowels of yours?"

She shot me a smile and said, "We need to clear away the rubble and get the mold off the walls. We can do most of that with the Force, but then comes the hard part. Decorations. None of us are party planning experts, so we need creative minds to help us map out the whole shindig."

"Shindig?"

"Just go with it. Anyway, we're almost there. Prepare yourself, by the way," she added, voice full of sincerity. "Some of the older Padawans down here can be a little rough around younglings."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'rough?'"

The ear-splitting cry of a child entered the air and before I knew it, Barriss and I were at a sprint, jumping over rubble and evading piles of rock.

We finally arrived at what looked to be an old foyer and a group of people were surrounding a crying, young boy. He was a green skinned Togruta with very small montrals and short lekku. Seeing him in pain reminded me of Ahsoka and filled with a surge of pity and concern, I pushed away the people circling him.

I examined the knee that he was holding and grimaced. It was cut up and torn in several places with blood flowing out of it like the lava rivers of Mustafar.

Standing up with a face twisted enough to scare a Sith Lord, I growled, "Who did this?" No one answered. "I'll ask only once more: who in the kriff _did this_?"

"Oh, calm down, Ace," a proud voice said. The circle of people parted, revealing a thirteen year old boy with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. A lightsaber hung from his belt and his Padawan braid fell from behind his right ear. "Don't go all Sith on us, like your grandfather did."

I glowered at him. "You have no right to speak of my family that way, Raigan."

Raigan was the son of Governor Cadarrian Odorian- the leader of Telos IV. Don't ask me how he found out about his lineage, by the way. He just knows. Anyway, we'd had harsh feelings toward each other for a while now, since my great-grandfather used to be the governor of Telos IV. But when he was killed by a Jedi, the Odorian family took control of the government and well, we didn't like each other.

"Oh, but don't I? After all, you _are _a hybrid of a human and a Epicanthix: an abnormality." Forgot to mention this; Raigan is racist.

A few laughs from humans sounded through the room, but most of us glared at him and scoffed at his prejudice. I looked back down at the young Togruta, then back to the young Padawan. "Did you do this?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, I didn't. The brat was climbing on the rubble and he slipped, though I don't blame him. I hear those head-tails are the reason for Togrutas' stupidity across the galaxy."

"Shut up," I growled and took a step forward. He approached, as well. We were separated by inches and I glared down at him. "Get out of here right now."

He laughed and said, "What makes you think that I would actually take orders from _you_?"

"If you don't, I'll send you to a bacta tank," I responded, sending him a cold stare. I had four more inches and much more muscle than Raigan, even though I was only eleven. If we were to get into a fight, there was a colossal chance that he would end up eating out of a tube for the rest of his life.

But two hands pushed us back. "Let's try and be rational here," Barriss said calmly. "Fighting will do us no good."

"Stay out of this, Offee," Raigan replied, his cold eyes never leaving mine.

A blue hand suddenly pushed Raigan back and a male Twi'lek stepped before us. I recognized him as Tutso Mara, the same padawan that Barriss had eaten lunch with yesterday. "If I were you, I would leave before someone else gets hurt, Raigan." Tutso's violet eyes had tempered anger in them. "If you don't leave voluntarily, then I'll 'escort' you out." He put quotations around "escort."

"Is that a threat?" Raigan's eyes were filled with harshness and rage.

"That's a promise," Tutso replied, his voice becoming raspy and hollow, and he took a threatening step toward the target.

Raigan's emotions flared through the Force, but he gestured to his Human friends. "Come on. We're out of here, boys."

He gestured to his posse and they hurried out of the area, but not before flipping me a dirty finger sign. I rolled my eyes and said, "I hate that guy!"

I was expecting some kind of reprimand from Tutso, but he nodded and said, "I've had to tolerate him since I was three. He's a complete jerk to my friends and I." With a glare at the exit, he added, "I'd like to see him in the sparring ring sometime soon, and teach him a lesson."

"That was unwise, guys." Barriss' eyebrows were scrunched together in worry. "If you had gotten into a fight, there would've been no one to stop him and his group from hurting you."

I laughed without humor. "If I know one thing about Raigan, it's that he's a coward. He wouldn't have _dared _fight us, especially with all these witnesses." I crossed my arms my chest with a _hmph_. "Besides, we could have taken him."

"I'm with ya on that, Omega," Tutso said with a colossal grin.

Barriss sighed and face-palmed. "I honestly have _no idea _what I'm going to do with you two." Tutso laughed and I smiled humorously.

"Ace, what are we going to do with Arro?" a youngling interjected. The small boy had come up next to me with big brown eyes and looked to be very worried about something. I suddenly realized that Arro was the injured Togruta.

I looked over at the still-crying youngling and frowned in sadness. Barriss said, "Don't worry, Ace. We'll take care of decorations here. Take him to the Halls of Healing."

"Really?"

"We can handle it for today," Tutso replied. "Just come back tomorrow."

I nodded to them and walked over to the Togruta. I knelt down and asked, "Do want me to take you to the healers, Arro?"

He nodded through his tears and completely lost it. He sobbed into my cream colored tunic and screamed in a hoarse voice, "It hurts!" I picked him up gently and nodded to Barriss once more. She didn't give any indication that she noticed me, just stared sadly at the youngling with her cobalt eyes.

* * *

"How did the child injure himself?" Master Che asked me, though impatience was clear across her expression.

I shrugged, trying to find a way to not lie, but not tell the truth. "I was just there when I heard a shriek of pain." Master Vokara Che was a blue-skinned Twi'lek and the Chief Healer of the Jedi Order; she also took the award for the most strict person I knew. Once, I came into the Halls of Healing when I was nine and she yelled at me for interrupting a healing session. I hadn't even known that one was going on. I had just needed some headache medicine.

Master Che glared at me like I had just said that I was the spawn of a Sith; then again, my grandfather _was _a Dark Jedi. "Where is 'there?'"

"I honestly don't know." It was kind of true; I didn't remember the way to get back to the bowels. "I had just been walking to my room after classes and when I sensed someone in pain, I rushed to the source. Some of the other initiates and padawans say that he had been climbing on something when he fell and injured his leg." Master Che raised an eye tattoo. **(A/N: Most Twi'leks get eyebrows tattooed above their eyes. I really don't why, but it's their customs, so I'm just going with it.) **

I added, "I swear! That's all I know!"

"I believe you, Initiate Omega," she said, after several minutes, or at least that's what it felt like. She looked down at the datapad in her hands and cleared her throat. "The initiate you brought, Arro, will heal in time, yet he will be here for quite some time. Due to you bringing him as speedily as you did, however, you've saved him from much more... _permanent_ damage."

I nodded to her and said, "I'm happy to help those in need."

"And I'm happy to hear you say that," she responded, not looking up from the datapad. I stood there uncomfortably until our eyes met and she cleared her throat. "Speaking of help, we're in need of new healers."

"Why?"

Master Che made a low sound in her throat. It sounded like a cross between pain and regret. But those two thing go hand-in hand, don't they? "A relief mission in the Outer Rim went wrong and we lost a good number of healers to bounty hunters and pirates." She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts, and asked, "Are you proficient in the art of healing, Initiate Omega? I'm in desperate need of helpers."

I scratched the back of my head and frowned. "Sorry, Master Che. I'm better at academics than I am healing, and if you've heard anything about me in the classroom, you know that's saying a lot."

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I suppose that I'll have to keep looking. Inform your friends of this opportunity, however. You are dismissed."

* * *

_This'll _never _come out! _I thought, rubbing at the blood on my robes. Arro's feet had been level with my abdomen when I was carrying him to the Halls of Healing and like I've already said, blood wouldn't stop oozing out of the cuts. In the end, I came out with even more gore on me than the younger boy.

"Argh!" I growled as I scrubbed at my clothes in a stream in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Suddenly, a sob from a row of bushes behind me interrupted my thoughts and I turned toward the offending plants. An audible gasp could be heard as I walked toward the vegetation and pushed away the leaves. Sitting there, curled into a ball with tears and snot covering her entire face was Ahsoka Tano.

I wiped away some of her tears that threatened to spill over. "What's wrong, Ahsoka?"

"My friends said that they wanted to play hide-and-seek tag again, but when I said no, they started pushing me around and calling me names." She wiped snot away from her nose. "They called me a dim-witted Sith and said that I would be lucky to even last one more year in the Order. They said that I would let Master Plo down."

"You mean Master Plo Koon?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She nodded. "He was the one that brought me here. I told him that I would the most powerful Jedi ever, even stronger than Master Yoda or Anakin Skywalker... or you."

"Me?"

"Well, you and Padawan Skywalker are the Chosen Ones!"

Again, I have another story from when I was younger. According to the tests they did when I was four, I had a count of at least twenty-thousand midi-chlorians so that kind of got rumors started about the Chosen One Prophecy coming to fruition. Of course, when Anakin Skywalker showed up when I was eight, people started getting worried. "We can't have _two _Chosen Ones, can we?" they said.

Well, when people figured out who my grandfather was, any convictions people had about me being the One were dashed against a barricade of electro-staffs. I mean, who would ever think that the grandchild of a Dark Jedi would save the galaxy from the people from which he was conceived?

_Ahsoka, apparently... _

"Just Skywalker, Ahsoka. I'm no Chosen One," I replied, taking a seat in front of her.

She sniffled and asked, "Why not?"

"I'm the grandchild of a Dark Jedi," I said, giving her a look of disbelief.

She scowled at me and wiped her nose. "What's that supposed to mean, Ace? That you're going to become a Dark Jedi, too? That you have evil living inside of you? No one is born mean or dark. I would expect you to know that, _Chosen One_."

Her words rang true and it hurt like hell. Ahsoka was right. I was smart and wise enough to realize that even though my grandfather had been twisted didn't mean that I would turn out like him. I was just letting other people's whispers and insults eat away at me. I frowned and took a seat next to her. "You're wise for an eight year-old."

"I'm seven."

The corners of my mouth lifted upwards. "Good to know."

She looked at me sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry for complaining about the other younglings." She scratched at her lekku. "It's not a Jedi's place to whine like a child."

"You've forgotten two things. Number one, you're not a Jedi yet. Two, you're still a child. We're both still children."

Ahsoka sighed and wiped at her eyes and nose again. "You're right, Ace. But it doesn't feel like we're kids."

"Why not?"

Sighing again, she answered, "Well, I hear that children not in the Order actually have a fun, happy childhood, filled with parents and siblings and the ability to express emotions. But our lives are filled with lightsabers, meditation, and Sith."

Her statement sounded a lot like what went through my mind whenever I went on field trips with my classes. I always managed to catch glimpses of kids with their parents and teenagers laughing and having a better time than the rest of us. "If you don't like being a Jedi, why don't you leave the Order? They'll send you back to your parents."

She shrugged. "The Order is all I've known. The only thing I remember from my short childhood is busy markets. It would be little hard to get used to living like... well, someone who isn't a Jedi." Smiling brightly, Ahsoka added, "Besides, being in the Order will be worth in the end. I like the idea of helping people around the galaxy. I only wish that life here at the Temple would be more exciting or fun."

"It was exciting for me this afternoon," I mumbled, shaking my head in disbelief at what I had been witness to for the past day.

"What happened?"

I chuckled and looked down at the young girl with a slight grin. "I'll tell you after we get some lunch."

* * *

**Author's Note: A little bit of bonding on both sides. Anyway, review!**


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